Gearing up for state

Penn, NorthWood heading to Super Bowl in full force.

Penn, NorthWood heading to Super Bowl in full force.

May 04, 2007|KIM KILBRIDE Tribune Staff Writer

Penn and NorthWood high schools have achieved a rare triumph. They each will be sending four teams to the Indiana Academic Super Bowl state finals Saturday at Purdue University. Diane Abel, administrative assistant for student programs with the Indiana Association of School Principals, the organization that sponsors the Super Bowl, said there are always a few schools that send multiple teams to the state contest. "It's still quite an accomplishment," she said, "to qualify four teams." Penn, a Class 1 team, will send its social studies, English, math and science teams. NorthWood, in Class 2, will send English, fine arts, social studies and science teams. To what does Jim Sauer, Penn's English coach, attribute the students' scholarly successes? "Talented kids, basically, who are willing to put in a lot of time," he said. Deborah Wei, a senior and the team captain, said the teens will give it their best. The group's been studying passionately and even recently met up in the cozy atmosphere of a coffee shop to discuss a Shakespearean play, she said. Members also stage practices that are like real competitions, complete with timers, to put themselves in competition mode. In Academic Super Bowl, schools can field six teams: English, science, social studies, math, fine arts and interdisciplinary. Several students compete at a time and substitutions can be made halfway through each round. Students field multiple-choice questions related to the competition theme, which, this year, is "The English Renaissance, 1500-1690." Lynda Rose, Penn's science coach, expects the competition at state to be fierce. "On any given day," she said, "any of the teams there could win." Adam Marsh, a senior and co-captain of the science team, is optimistic. "I think we have a good chance to put up a high number," he said. "Each person (on Penn's science team) who goes out there specializes in a certain area, physics or biology, for example." Senior David Yeung said his own expertise is biology. "It's really intense," he said of competition. . . "But, this is what we've been preparing for." Daniel Howard, a sophomore on both the math and science teams spoke for the math students. "I'm confident we'll do well," he said. "We're one of the few teams who actually knows (answers to) questions about the mathematicians. "I'm expecting good outcomes for math," he said happily. Penn's social studies team, coached by Pete DeKever, has qualified for state 13 times and has won championships there seven times. Qualifying four teams this year, DeKever said, is a reflection of the commitment of Penn's Super Bowl students. "Our players value this competition and hold themselves to a high standard of performance. ... While it is a nice achievement to qualify for state, the goal is winning the state championship, to be the best of all 25 teams competing on May 5," he said. Karen Renner, a guidance counselor and academic team coordinator at NorthWood, meanwhile, said the school and the community put a huge emphasis on academic competitions. Renner said the teams are successful both because of dedicated students and coaches, the latter of whom, she said, "pull out all the stops." For example, to highlight the English Renaissance theme of Academic Super Bowl this year, students on NorthWood's English team were taken to a madrigal dinner and a High Mass to help them not only understand, but actually experience the context of the material, she said. Other coaches have held all-night study sessions at the school. The entire school honored the Super Bowl students by celebrating spirit week this week, Renner said. That'll culminate today as students and staff will come to school dressed in brightly colored clothes. The outfits will go perfectly with the buttons students in the art department made for their peers in Super Bowl. They say "We are bright." Staff writer Kim Kilbride: kkilbride@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6554